Week after week, it seems like every opponent of the Patriots that has a chance finds a way to badmouth them or say they aren’t that good. One thin you never want to do is give Tom Brady and the gang something to put up on the locker room wall. Even when they played the Cowboys, Wade Phillips supposed quote about them tainting their record by cheating surfaced. Whether it was true or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if Belichick leaked the quote as a fake just to keep his crew riled up for the big showdown.

This week the Colts are taking a different approach. They are complimenting the Patriots and playing themselves up as the underdog.

Said Colts safety Bob Sanders: “They’re playing great football. Right now I would say they’re the best team in football.”

Said Colts quarterback Peyton Manning: “They’ve beaten the teams they’ve played, and they’ve beaten them badly. … We’re playing an excellent football team, and we’re going to need everybody to play well to have a chance.”

Said Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri: “They’re on pace to break just about every stat that there is. We know we’re going to have to play our best game and play error-free to compete with them.”

At the same time, the Patriots are doing the same song and dance they have done all year–pretending they are afraid of the Colts and that the Colts are the best team in football.

At Patriots headquarters earlier Wednesday, Belichick also had said the Patriots “aren’t in (the Colts’) league.” He was right, though he didn’t mean it this way: The Colts are in the NFL; the Patriots belong on a higher plane.

Anyone, especially anyone following fantasy football, knows that is not quite the case. Let’s see if the suck up song and dance works for the Colts or whether the Patriots make them the next victim of their offensive machine.